Gracenote iTunes CD track submission
So you’re in the final stages of recording your band’s CD and there’s one crucial question that’s haunting you… how do I get my album title, artist and track names to display in iTunes when someone buys the CD?
Fortunately for you, the answer is extremely simple and even better, can be done for free. Gracenote (previously known as the the CDDB database) is a free service to consumers that has been around for over a decade and and provides the online service that enables users with an internet connection to see complete track and album details when they insert a CD into their computer.
It works like this.
When you load your CD into a computer, the media player (such as iTunes, winamp etc – most are registered with Gracenote) reads the details of the CD and sends the (usually) unique track and album length details to the Gracenote database. Gracenote checks these details against their list of previously submitted albums and hopefully replies back to the media player with the album name, track names and album artwork.
If you are copying the tracks from your CD onto your computer, it is this information that is used to identify the album details and allows you to tell what tracks you’d like to listen to on your iPod. Without the convenience of this information, you’d be left to manually key in the track and information each time a new CD was loaded onto your computer.
So back to that new CD you’re almost finished recording. How does all of this information get onto the Gracenote database?
Obviously it doesn’t just appear there, the data has to be manually entered. The Gracenote system has been created so that anybody can enter the details themselves at no cost. Its as simple as putting your new CD into your computer (with active internet connection). Hopefully when the tracks show in the media player, it will show the tracks as “untitled” this means that nobody has submitted the track information yet.
Each media player has it’s own process, but to take the example of iTunes (currently by far the most popular media player), it goes something like this.
Once the unsubmitted CD has been inserted into your computer and iTunes has shown the CD has not been submitted yet, you need to click on each track one by one, select the “get info” option and enter the artist name, track name, album name, genre and year of release. Once this is completed for each track, navigate to the “advanced” tab at the top of the page and choose the “submit CD track names” option.
To Clarify, the fields you will need to enter are as follows:
Info needed for Gracenote submission
- Artist
- Album
- Year Recorded
- Label (if unsigned, leave blank)
- Primary Genre
- Track Names
- Artist URL
Once submitted you can expect the details to show up on the database around about 2-3 days later.
What if I make a mistake, and what’s to stop someone else submitting incorrect details for a CD?
Fortunately, the Gracenote database is administered by humans and common sense will prevail in most cases. If you accidentally make a typo or you discover that someone else has incorrectly submitted your CD as a prank, it’s as simple as resubmitting the correct details and emailing Gracenote to explain.
Why are there several albums with the same title?
The database works on the basis of track length and album length. The likelihood of 2 CDs having exactly the same combinations of lengths in the same order is extremely low, however with the volume of albums being submitted each day this is starting to happen more and more.
Until a more sophisticated method is introduced, we may have to live with the occasional double up.
Is it just audio CDs that are covered by the Gracenote database?
Gracenote is an extremely diverse and comprehensive service covering DVDs, Blu-Ray, in car CD recognition, data discs and more. Visit the Gracenote website to see details of exactly what is covered.
What if I don’t want to risk submitting the data myself?
Although the service is free, many people still would rather an experienced operator provide the service and this is where “Content Partners” come into it,
Content partners use software for the submission process, will understand the submission requirement (such as captilisation and grammatical requirements).
As a registered Content Partner, DiskBank will be happy to submit your CD at a very affordable cost.